ARMOUR & CO.

Undercover brother, no more Most people never heard...

July 18, 2004|By Terry Armour.

Undercover brother, no more

Most people never heard of EDDIE MURPHY's big brother CHARLIE MURPHY until he hooked up with DAVE CHAPPELLE for Comedy Central. Now, thanks to "Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories" on Chappelle's show -- particularly his hilarious account of hanging out with RICK JAMES (played by Chappelle) in the 1980s -- it's as if everybody knows who the other Murphy is.

Case in point: During a break from shooting of "Roll, Bounce" on the South Side a few days ago Murphy was greeted with several chants of "I'm Rick James, [expletive]" from a crowd that gathered to catch some of the filming. "It's going to take at least 15 years for me to get tired of that," Murphy told Armour & Co. when we visited the set. "The sad thing is everybody got to see only 5 percent of what was shot. There was some very funny stuff that nobody got to see."

The sketch led to Murphy's role in "Roll, Bounce," an ensemble comedy about the closing of a South Side roller rink in the 1970s. Murphy and MICHAEL EPPS play a pair of wisecracking Chicago garbage men in the film, which stars BOW WOW and CHI McBRIDE. And there's already talk about spinning the Murphy and Epps characters into their own movie. "That one sketch is basically what set it off for Charlie Murphy," Murphy told us.

Sober as he wants to be

Though DENNIS RODMAN isn't all over the place like he used to be, every once in a while he pops up somewhere (earlier this month, the former Bull was running with the real bulls in Pamplona, Spain). The NBA's former bad boy tells Armour & Co. he has been trying to stay out of the limelight and hasn't had a drink since October. "I just thought I would take a year off," he told us when we tracked him down in Newport Beach, Calif., a few days ago. "I just thought I would put everything in perspective, reflect on everything that's going on and get my life to what it should be."

Could that mean a return to the NBA? Even at 43, Rodman thinks he can still play ("I'm in great shape -- my body fat is about 2.2 percent"). That is if somebody -- anybody -- is willing to give him a chance to resume his career. "I feel like I'm 20 years old," he told us. "I know teams are like, `But we don't know what he's going to do.' Well, what is the NBA about right now? Let's see: tattoos and big diamond earrings. I already did that. What am I going to do that the NBA player isn't already doing right now?"

STARGAZING

An occasional look at who's filming in and around town

The cast of NBC's "ER," including OMAR EPPS and MAURA TIERNEY, rolls into town next weekend to shoot exteriors for next season.

Also, the city is putting together its fall schedule with another major film, MIKAEL HAFSTROM's "Derailed," coming to Union Station for four weeks beginning in September. The thriller stars "King Arthur's" CLIVE OWEN (above) as a businessman whose life takes an strange turn after he misses his morning train.

Da movie star

While it looks as if former Bears coach MIKE DITKA doesn't have a future in politics after all, he is moving forward with his budding movie career. "Da Coach" recently wrapped shooting of "Kicking & Screaming" with WILL "Anchorman" FERRELL. They play rival coaches for a youth soccer league, with Ditka parodying the gruff "Iron Mike" persona that made him a folk hero in these parts when the 1985 Bears were crowned Super Bowl champions. The movie is scheduled to be released in early 2005.

`Bloody' good films

Seen any good westerns lately? We recently posed that question to KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, who has appeared in his share of them (including SAM PECKINPAH's "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" in 1973). "I can't think of one," Kristofferson answered when we caught up with him in Los Angeles a few days ago. "I'd have to go all the way back to Sam for the last real good one."

Kristofferson (above right) narrates "Sam Peckinpah's West: The Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade," which premieres on the Westerns Channel on Sunday. The special salutes "Bloody Sam," as he was dubbed after directing 1969's "The Wild Bunch." "The thing about Sam is that he always tried to make something good, something that was artistically defendable," Kristofferson told us. "I just don't know if that's the case [with movies] anymore."

Dawn of the `Deadline'

The idea was relatively simple. "We were looking for a good story about the criminal justice system," filmmaker KATY CHEVIGNY told Armour & Co. when we tracked her down in New York last week. "We just wanted to tell the best story we could."